MTV Picks Up U.S. Version of 'Inbetweeners'

The Inbetweeners are coming to the U.S. via MTV. After a heated bidding for the rights to the British high school comedy series, I hear MTV is close to giving a pilot commitment to the project, from Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment. Iain Morris and Damon Beesley, creators of the original series which runs on Channel 4’s digital sibling E4, will executive produce alongside Kaplan. Former Comedy Central head of original programming Lauren Corrao, who stepped down at the end of last year to return to producing, is also attached to the project as producer. Search is under way for a writer to pen the adaptation.

Described as Superbad meets Freeks and Geeks, The Inbetweeners takes a realistic look at life in high school, often glamorized on shows like The O.C. and Beverly Hills 90210. It revolves around four high school boys who belong to the “inbetweeners” social class — teens who are not the most cool and popular but not geeky enough to be branded uncool. This is the second stab at adapting The Inbetweeners in the U.S. Two years ago, ABC gave a put pilot commitment to an U.S. version written by Morris and Beesley.

For MTV, this marks the second project based on a high-profile British teen series. The network recently picked up to series an adaptation of drama Skins, which also airs on E4. It also gave a series order to an updated version of Teen Wolf.